


Abandoned

by NeverlandBae



Series: Hookfire [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/823647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverlandBae/pseuds/NeverlandBae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baelfire learns the truth about his parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abandoned

**Author's Note:**

> I like to pretend that Baelfire actually stayed with Hook and they had lots of adventures. These will more than likely be jumping around a timeline in Neverland so I'll be sure to try to point out when each installment happened somewhere in the story.

Baelfire had been aboard the Jolly Roger for almost a month when he discovered the picture. It was a woman, one that he recognized. He had been young when his mother had died. Around six or seven if he remembered correctly. His father had a drawing of her as well, and kept it up on the wall in their home. Or at least he had for a few years, then one day he took it down and threw it away. Baelfire didn’t know why. But he did rescue the drawing from the garbage. He couldn’t even remember the sound of his mother’s voice, he didn’t want to forget what she looked like as well.

So you can imagine his surprise to find a drawing of the same woman, his mother, in the drawer of Hook’s desk. He was told not to snoop, but he couldn’t help it. He was curious. And he couldn’t do much else in the middle of the sea. The surprise lead to confusion, wondering how Hook could have possibly known his mother. Then, he remembered just how his father told him his mother had died.

A pirate. A pirate had taken her away and killed her. Finding this picture in Hook’s desk could only lead him to believe one thing. And he’d taken the picture up to the deck to get to the bottom of it. He’d also taken his sword. It was smaller than average, and Killian had been teaching him to use it. He wasn’t as good as Killian, but he knew enough, he thought.

Confronting Hook about the picture had turned out much differently than Baelfire thought it would. At first he didn’t even give the captain time to explain. He was too angry, too humiliated at how he’d fallen for such lies for as long as he’d been on the ship. He swung his sword angrily but Hook dodged it easily and eventually took it from him altogether without much effort at all. But as it turned out, Hook wasn’t the one that had been lying to him. No, he hadn’t told the complete truth, but they weren’t lies. What his father had told him, those were lies.

Bae thought for a second that Killian was lying again, but as the captain fell to his knees and recalled what had happened, telling the boy just how his mother had met her end, he knew the pirate wasn’t lying. He could see it in his eyes, the emotion that he’d never seen before in the captain welling up as he spoke. And it made sense. His father had become terrible, even though Bae often tried to look past it and see the good in Rumple. He remembered the good that was there once before, and held on to hope that it was still there somewhere.

But this revelation told Bae that the man he knew as his father must surely be gone for him to do such a terrible thing to his mother. And to lie to him about it for all those years, not taking responsibility for what he’d done. It was so like him. So cowardly.

In the days after, Baelfire fell into a state of melancholy. He kept to himself, didn’t talk much, if at all to anyone. The revelation about his father hadn’t helped his feelings. Now instead of feeling abandoned by one parent, he felt abandoned by both. His mother had left him for the sake of getting away from his father. And though Hook told Bae that Milah always wanted to come back and get him, the fact remained that she hadn’t. She hadn’t even tried. He felt he must not have been important enough.

So yes, Bae was unhappy to say the least. He’d had his fair share of homesickness since he'd left his home. Being with the Darlings had almost made him forget, but that was short lived. And now he was on his own again, with the exception of Hook and his crew. They all seemed nice enough, and Hook told him that they could become his family, and the ship his home. But he’d had a home before, and a family, and they all seemed to fall apart one way or another. What was stopping that from happening again?

Bae went to the forecastle deck, his favorite spot on the ship. He knew it’s name because he’d heard Killian call it that, along with a few other parts of the ship. It was the closest to the front he could get, and had one of the best views. Darkness had fallen while Bae stood and watched the waves, going through his thoughts over and over again.

“You’ve been up here all day.” Baelfire heard the captain’s voice from behind him. He didn’t look up or move to look over his shoulder, just kept his gaze on the water, which was calm that night. Killian had a good view of most of the ship from the helm, and had watched Bae closely once he caught on to the strange mood that had overcome him.

When Bae didn’t look up or answer, Hook moved beside him, resting his elbows against the railing and looking out to the water as well. “The sea has a way of hypnotizing you, did you know that? It’s been said by many people that a sailor can never love anyone or anything more than he loves the water. And that no matter how long he stays away from it, he will always go back.” Killian explained, as he had been doing a lot lately.

Baelfire glanced over, pondering what the captain had told him. “That can’t be true. It doesn’t think, it’s not a living thing.” The teen said, his eyebrows drawing together a bit as he made his argument. “Isn’t it?” Killian answered with the slightest smirk. “We’re all at her mercy. She’s much larger and more powerful than this boat and all the men on it. And she could crush us in an instant, but she doesn’t. When she gets angry, she puts us in our place and shows us just what she could do, if she chose to. And that’s how we know the spirit of the sea is a woman.” Hook smiled. Baelfire didn’t completely understand the reference, but Hook brought up an interesting point. Hook liked these moments, where he could share some of his knowledge with someone who didn’t know it already. He enjoyed being able to teach Bae about sailing and showing him how to sword fight.

Killian himself had lost his train of thought after a minute of gazing, watching the reflection of the stars dancing on the surface of the water. “I don’t belong anywhere.” Baelfire said, snapping the captain out of his daze so that he looked over at the boy again. “My mother left because she couldn’t stand my father. I couldn’t stay home and my father wouldn’t go with me because he loved his powers more than me. I left the Darlings because otherwise they would have been ripped apart and they were too good to have that happen to them. Now I’m here and I’m just waiting for whatever is going to happen to take it all away from me again.” He said, barely taking a breath between words.

Baelfire tried not to cry, at all costs, in front of anyone. Especially since he’d been on the ship. The only exception had been when he confronted Killian about his mother’s picture. Until that moment, when the first tear broke free and slipped down his cheek. It was useless to try to hold back the rest. “I’m afraid that it will be like this forever. That I’ll feel at home in a new place just in time for it to vanish.” Bae said, sniffling and wiping his face on his sleeve. Hook’s technically, since it was his jacket that he’d been wearing.

“Bae. The things I said to you the other night, about you being part of this family and living on this ship. As far as we’re concerned, it was already official. You’re one of us now and we won’t give you up that easily. If Peter himself wants to come and take you from this ship, he’ll have a hell of a fight on his hands to do so.” Hook said, standing straight and placing a hand on Bae’s shoulder to try to comfort him. “You’re... quite literally, stuck with us.” He said, having explained to Baelfire that they had no way to leave Neverland already. “You belong here.” Hook said, giving Bae’s shoulder a squeeze.

Baelfire sniffled again. The captain had the same tone of voice, the one that Bae couldn’t help but believe because it sounded so sincere and so much different than when Hook talked to anyone else. Bae shrugged Hook’s hand off his shoulder only to latch himself to the captain, his arms around the older man’s waist and face pressed into his chest. He just wanted to feel safe. He needed something constant in his life and from the way things looked, that constant was going to be Killian.

The captain was surprised by this, but after a moment, his arms were around Baelfire as well, comforting him as he continued to sniffle and avoid fully crying. He could do this, Hook thought. The boy needed a family and a home and though they weren’t the best choices, he could provide both. He felt Bae take a deep breath and sigh. With one last sniffle, Bae stepped back and smiled up at the captain, who smiled back. “Welcome home, Baelfire.” Hook said, patting Bae on the back and putting his hand on his shoulder again to lead him back down to the main deck.


End file.
